How happy was I to receive this lovely, summery anthology featuring a few of my favorite authors! I’ve decided to do little mini-reviews on each story since there are four of them.

Midnight Bet by Jodi Thomas 4 Stars
Harmony series

This novella tackled the love interests of two cousins who get shot at and both are convinced that they are the target. Rick Mattheson is a small town lawyer who helps put criminals away and makes enemies. He fell in love with a US Marshall who left him behind. This is his chance to get her back. Lizzie Mattheson is the eccentric cousin of the family, but all say there is no harm in their bumbling relation. Who could possibly want to killer? Yet, someone is sending threats in the mail and even Lizzy isn’t this accident-prone. Lizzie finds that for all this, she is the happiest she has ever been because reclusive and quiet Dr. McCall seems keen to protect her.

Things get a little choppy especially when it comes to Rick and Trace’s story. Maybe it was introduced in an earlier book in the series? I enjoyed this shorter piece and would love to read more of the Harmony series. Humor, light tones, and small town romance were a hit.

You’ll Be Mine by Marie Force 3.5 stars
#4.5 Green Mountain series

A wedding, a wedding! For fans of Will and Cam, this front row seat to their wedding festivities would be a really, delicious follow-up treat. Welcoming the bride’s dad, rehearsal night and late night antics, nostalgia, family togetherness, tender love, moose sighting, sultry honeymooners, and an adventure for another couple. This was my first intro to the couple, the Abbotts and the whole Green Mountain series. I’ve definitely been missing out.

Wrapped Around Your Finger by Shirley Jump 4 stars
Southern Belle Book Club series
Sweetheart Sisters series

A tomboy who’s afraid of love and something permanent accepts her best friend’s dare to bring her co-worker to the wedding. Nick plays his role only too well leaving Maggie confused about what she thought she always wanted.

This sweet and sweltering Southern small town romance hit the spot. I enjoyed the tie-in to both series and both these characters. Nick was quite the charmer and I loved the way he worked past Maggie’s strong, stubborn heart.

Carolina Heart by Virginia Kantra 4.5 Stars
Dare Island series

Saved the best for last, I guess, when it came to my favorite story of the anthology. The poignant and touching story of a one time wild girl and the high school geek who both grow up and fall in love with the weary, lonely people yet still hopeful that they have become. Max was the perfect hero as he patiently waited for Cynthie, gave her the emotional strength she needed, and adored her girls. He shored up all the cracks with love and respect and in return, he got the woman he had dreamed of for so long. This was part of a series, but would standalone just fine.

In summary, this was a fantastic line-up of stories and hit the spot for a lazy, hot summer day. I was mostly familiar with these authors and enjoyed their storytelling, but it was nice to try one new to me and add her to the list of enjoyable writers. Each story was from a series, but only You’ll Be Mine was strongly attached with the rest doing fine as standalones. I would definitely recommend this anthology to Contemporary Romance fans who like a variety of plots and some sugar and spice blended nicely in their romances.

My thanks to Penguin Group for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Romance Roundabout #272

Cliché Klatch #159 ‘friends with benefits’

New to Me #135 author/series

Books N Tunes #42 LeAnne Rimes ‘Good Hearted Woman’

About Marie Force

Marie Force is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 contemporary romances, including the Gansett Island Series, which has sold more than 2.3 million books, and the Fatal Series from Harlequin Books, which has sold more than 1.2 million books. In addition, she is the author of the Green Mountain Series as well as the erotic romance Quantum Series, written under the slightly modified name of M.S. Force. All together, her books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide!

Her goals in life are simple—to finish raising two happy, healthy, productive young adults, to keep writing books for as long as she possibly can and to never be on a flight that makes the news.

Join Marie’s mailing list on her website at marieforce.com for news about new books and upcoming appearances in your area. Follow her on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/MarieForceAuthor, on Twitter @marieforce and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/marieforceauthor/.

I was born and raised near Sacramento, CA. I have read since I was four years old and developed tastes that run the gamut of literature. I went away to college and have a degree in education, a certificate in family history research, and a certificate in social work. I worked for a non-profit agency with low income families for 20 years which included being responsible for the children’s library and promoting/teaching adult literacy. I have lived in Southeast Michigan for the last 18 years and I am currently a book addicted homemaker with a cat and husband who keep me grounded. Recently, I made it a challenge to review each book that I have read as a favor to author friends who said reviews are important. I have done reviews for Good Reads, Amazon, eBay, and Smashwords, but mostly at Goodreads and Amazon.

Me too, Mary. This was actually more of a reunion with three of the four authors for me. Just Marie Force was new to me. I liked that this one had stories from favorite series, but the reader has the choice whether they want to grab this for the series or pass it.

Oh yep. I agree on most of that 🙂 The last was my favorite as well. I love that series so was nice to visit it again. I hadn’t read any of the other authors. I’m curious about the first one too and if it had others to go with it. I totally forgot to look that up back when I read it.

Need a little challenge?

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